US President Donald Trump is to announce his approval of a plan to sell anti-tank missiles to Ukraine. This plan may include the anti-tank Javelin systems. The defense package of $47 million is to include selling 210 anti-tank missiles and 35 launching systems.
In a statement, State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert told ABC News: "The United States has decided to provide Ukraine enhanced defensive capabilities as part of our effort to help Ukraine build its long-term defense capacity, to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity, and to deter further aggression. U.S. assistance is entirely defensive in nature, and as we have always said, Ukraine is a sovereign country and has a right to defend itself. The United States remains committed to the Minsk agreements as the way forward in eastern Ukraine. We have no further comment, at this time."
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that sale “will once again motivate the hotheads” in the Ukrainian government and "unleash bloodshed again." The head of the Russian parliament’s defense committee, Vladimir Shamanov, also condemned it as a “sophisticated and irresponsible step.”
As violence in the eastern region accelerates between the Ukrainians and separatists supported by Russia, the Ukrainian government has made it clear that they are in dire need of offensive hardware.
The war has been at a standstill along the eastern front since the Russia seized Crimea in 2014.
